Thoughts on ATA schools?

[Azmyth]

this is not meant to cause any flames.. just something to help me decide.

I have a high rank blue belt in ITF tkd.. currently on Yul Gok form.. actually stopped right as I would have tested for red belt...

the ranks following are..

high red

recommended black

1st degree black

so I was close to my goal.. but I just cannot go to this school any longer. some of the things that have happened I cannot deal with and respect myself afterwards.

I had an offer from a good friend of mine who is a 4th dan black belt who converted from ATA to ITF.. to work with me to help me attain my first degree in TKD so all my time is not gone to waste.

All the while.. I'd be studying at another school with an old friend of mine doing Jiujitsu and Kenpo as well as a bit of filippino martial arts and MMA.

as a 3rd option.. I could stay away from the non TKD arts for now, and focus on TKD.. but I'd have to do it at an ATA school. My issues with this are..

1. will they let me convert over and keep my rank?

2. ATA schools have a bad rap for promoting 5year olds to 3rd dan in a very short amount of time.

3. ATA has been said to not be very big on practical use more show.

4. should I just do the above forementioned idea and work with my friend on the side to finish out TKD.

[A_Train]

A lot of your concerns listed at the end tend to get applied to all TKD and not just ATA. Surely in some ATA you're sure to find some really young (and perhaps undeserving?) black belts, although I doubt you'll find any five year old 3rd Dans.

I don't know anything about ATA, is it just American? But I it is just like any other break down of TKD, and it depends on the individual school rather than which association it has.

Someone on the boards here used to be a vocal defender of ATA and had good arguments for it, but I havent seen them in a while.

As well, switching to ATA from ITF will probably let you keep a similar rank if you can prove you deserve it, but they will probably delay your first testing as you will have a lot of new curriculum to cover such as old lower ranking forms ect.

[Azmyth]

yeah, and I am fine with that...

but it may make more sense just to finish up what I have left with ITF.. and go on to something new.

[bushido_man96]

I started my TKD career in an ATA school, and became a Certified Instructor and achieved the rank of 2nd dan before moving. I enjoyed my time with it, and had some very good instructors.

ATA schools have in the past have done a rank equivalency transfer. How they will approach this for you, if they do, I don't know. They may have you demonstrate the material that you know, and then promote you to the ATA rank equivalent. In my current style, Yul-Guk is the 6th rank. So, in ATA, that would put you at blue belt level. If they allow you test in like that, you will then have to learn all of the ATA material up to that point. Howeve, you will come in at your rank. Of course, they may promote you lower or higher, based on whatever their credentials are.

Not all ATA schools are created equal, however. When I left the ATA, the schools hadn't started all of the new XMA flash yet. Probably a good thing, too, because I can't do that stuff, let alone teach it. However, you should visit that school yourself and find out what it does have to offer you, and see if it will meet your needs. If it doesn't, then it would be best to find another option. As for black belt kids running around, I say this: Don't worry about them; worry about you. Focus on you. My school does some things that I don't agree with. However, I go with the flow, worry about my training, and if I ever run my own school again, then I know what I would do differently.

Hope that helps, and I hope that you find what you are looking for.

[bushido_man96]

I don't know anything about ATA, is it just American? But I it is just like any other break down of TKD, and it depends on the individual school rather than which association it has.

The ATA stands for the American Taekwondo Association. It falls under the umbrella of the WTTU (World Traditional TKD Union), but ATA is the flagship, so to speak. ATA is the American body, WTTU covers ATA schools in Europe and Asia, I believe, and the STF (Songham Taekwondo Federation) is the South American equivalent.

[wingedMonkey]

1. will they let me convert over and keep my rank?

2. ATA schools have a bad rap for promoting 5year olds to 3rd dan in a very short amount of time.

3. ATA has been said to not be very big on practical use more show.

4. should I just do the above forementioned idea and work with my friend on the side to finish out TKD.

Okay so..i've been in ATA for about a year now and must say i like this style much more than any other TKD style I have studied. soo..

1. The school I am at let three TSD people keep their black belt status, a girl formerly from WTF keep her red belt status, and other karate/kungfu people be green/purple/blue belts depending on their abilities. Although they allow people to do this, you will have to work EXTRA hard to learn the ATA forms, sparring drills, and basically the techniques.

2. The bad rap is just a myth, there are 1st and second degree kids but it takes them about 4 years to get their first degree blackbelt. And there are age requirements too. I believe you must be 15 or 16 (I don't remember right now) to be a 3rd degree, 18 or 21 to be 4th and obviously after that you will be much older.

3. We actually learn forms(to create muscle memory), sparring(to give the whole combat feel), and self-defense techniques dealing with joint locks/pressure points/drops or throws. Recently, it has also been announced that 3rd degree blackbelts will need to do ground fighting sparring during their graduations as well. Right now we do ground fighting on Saturdays after normal TKD practice.

4. This is my opinion...If your friend has the authority to give you the black belt I would say, DEFINITELY finish, but after that I would really recommend going to ATA. That way you can try and enter as a black belt and have more time to learn the color belt and black belt forms.

[bushido_man96]

Recently, it has also been announced that 3rd degree blackbelts will need to do ground fighting sparring during their graduations as well. Right now we do ground fighting on Saturdays after normal TKD practice.

When I was still in the ATA, they had ground fighting through the Protech programs. I think some of the instructors that they had researching and setting up the grappling program went through the Gracie System, but I am not for sure.

I think it is great that they make this a requirement now. I would love to see how it is run, though, before I jumped into it. What do you cover in the ground fighting?

[Hideout]

1. will they let me convert over and keep my rank?

2. ATA schools have a bad rap for promoting 5year olds to 3rd dan in a very short amount of time.

3. ATA has been said to not be very big on practical use more show.

4. should I just do the above forementioned idea and work with my friend on the side to finish out TKD.

I was at an ATA school for about 4 years, i can't really say on the first question, but as for 2. Yeah, they do. when I was there I saw 8 year old black belts...I was like wow...I don't think and 8 year old can fully grasp the concepts, but as long as they could memorize the kata, they got promoted....

3. Well...my school was pretty good, our instructor didn't really do everything for show and we did some real life scenario training.

[wingedMonkey]

we learn all the basic locks and holds in grappling like the americana and stuff like that.

[YoungMan]

Before Haeng Ung Lee died, the ATA was relatively credible. Unfortunately, it has, in my opinion, degenerated into an organization whose primary goal is making money. I'm sure you can find plenty of people with bad experiences who felt like they were treated like dollar signs within the ATA.